Binary Love (18+)

Ender's Game

"I can see you lurking in the corner," Nova said, while she began carefully organising the new blood samples. "You can come closer and have a look through the microscope if you'd like?"

It was incredibly hard to hide a seven foot framed beast of a man in such an open plan workshop, but Mark was definitely trying his best to blend into the background. Tucked away in the corner of the room, he had sat himself down in the shadow of the workbench, quietly tapping away on his datapad. At her question, he gave a noncommittal shrug.

"I can see the results on the display screen." His gruff voice was flippant, helping him to give off an air of disinterest. If they hadn't had talked about it in depth earlier, Nova would not have been able to tell that he cared so much about the results given his current behaviour.

"Are you sure? What are you even doing on that datapad, anyway?"

"I was just jotting down my thoughts, but something else has come up, demanding my attention." Crystal eyes briefly made contact with her own, before dropping back down to the soft blue glow of tech in his hands. "Please go ahead. I have the capacity to focus on multiple things at once - I am paying attention."

Going back to setting up the different slides, Nova quickly went to work prepping her samples. Although Mark seemed fairly certain that Blue had gotten into his blood stream, Nova wasn't sure it would show up during the tests. Often, Blue was processed fairly fast by the body it was injected into, and it had been a long time since Mark came from the Mayflower. At most, Nova was expecting evidence of residual damage or nanos to be seen on the slides. She had explained this to Mark, while she took his blood earlier, but he had only looked at her quietly, silently showing through his facial expressions that he anticipated a very different outcome.

"Oh? I wonder what's so interesting that it 'demands' your attention?"

"Apart from you, do you mean?" Mark replied with a husky chuckle, clearly referencing something else and feeling far too smug about it. "Are you jealous? Do not worry - that type of attention is reserved only for you."

She gave a soft snort in reply, pleased by his flattery but not willing to let it distract her.

"Stop dodging the question, I know what you're up too. If you want to compliment me that badly, you can do it later."

"I don't see why I can't do both? I am confident in my multitasking abilities..." Nova suddenly heard a burst of furious typing, before it settled down to a more leisurely  speed. "I guess you could say that I am playing a game of chess."

"Really? A simple game is what has you so engrossed?" Nova slid the first slide under the microscope, carefully adjusting the focus as she looked at the display screen.

"The opponent is very capable so it is making it more interesting. I have faster processing speeds, but they seem to have a significant amount of experience, so we are well matched as adversaries. They are probably more skilled then they present, but I have come to the conclusion that this is a friendly game for them, so they are not trying their best at the moment."

She was going to ask him more about his new hobby, until she saw the clear outlines of nanobots on the screen. Focusing in on one, the image expanded so that she could see every clear detail of it. The casing was clear, with three flexible 'arms' trailing behind the 'body'. Thin, microscopic tendrils of blue spread throughout it, crisscrossed in an artificially intricate design. It reminded her of microchip pathways, but differed by being three dimensional in nature.

"You were right," Nova said as calmly as she could, "Blue somehow got into your blood stream."

She glanced over her shoulder, falling straight into his intense stare. A few seconds ago, he had been typing into his data pad as is nothing could phase him, but now he sat inhumanly still. It felt like he was trying to see into her soul, digging deep for a reaction he could analyse and dissect.